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- Parents: John "Jim" Henry Bailey and Sarah "Sally" Drollinger Bailey. Sally died in 1886 in Salem, Marion Co., Oregon and her husband John followed her in the same locale ca mid-1890s.
In 1850, her father and his brother Henry went West to California to seek their luck mining for gold. By 1864, Sarah's parents and many of her siblings had trekked West, settling in Oregon. Her brother, George Washington Bailey, is buried in the Missouri Flat Cemetery in Jackson Co., Oregon (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=27696324"George Washington Bailey).
She married John Carl Berner 24 January 1863, at the home of William Bailey in Monroe County, Iowa. She was noted as "Sarah J. Askren."
It is stated that she had two children by her first marriage to Mr. Askren: Sue and John. At the time of her marriage to John Berner, Sue was 6 yrs old and John was one year old.
Sarah and John Berner were the parents of five sons: Henry, Sylvester, Jess, Carl and Owen.
In 1880, Sarah was living in Graham Township, Graham County, Kansas. The census lists her as head of household, widowed, farming, age 45 (b. Indiana). Living with her were Henry 14 (b. Indiana), Sylvester 12 (b. Iowa), Jesse 10 (b. Iowa), Carl 8 (b. Iowa), and Owen 6 (b. KS). Interestingly, this census shows her parents being born in Ohio.
Sarah later moved to Parks, Nebraska. On 30 March 1893, she died in a prairie fire. It is believed that her son, Henry, who was disabled and unmarried, died with her in the fire.
Sarah is buried in Old Ives Cemetery [aka Parks Cem], Parks, Nebraska, and tradition says that Henry is buried with his mother.
Sarah's grave marker states that she, an infant daughter, and son Charles Whittner died in a prairie fire. (Note: Found a cemetery transcription which states that an Infant Whittner was born and died in 1913; no connection to Sarah and her family.)
There are also conflicts in the tale of the prairie fire that took Sarah's life. The following story is taken from the life of Samuel Mitchell Ewig who was also one of the early settlers in Dundy County, filing on a homestead in 1885. "Prairie fires were numerous in those early years and were a source of worry to the settlers. It was in the spring of 1893 that a big fire burned over many miles of land north of Ives [now known as Parks]. It started near the Frenchman River and came south. Mrs. Burner [Berner] and her small son, who lived up the canyon east of the present location of the State Fish Hatchery, lost their lives in this fire. They are buried in the small cemetery five miles north of Parks, where the old Presbyterian Church once stood."
There is no mention of an infant daughter or Charles Whittner, unless Charles was the infant son, Whittner being perhaps his middle name. Her son Henry is also reported to have died in the fire; however, records show he died in 1894 (results of injuries caused by the fire?) and he was an adult.
Note: Most of the Berner family data is courtesy of Donna Brown Berner, family historian who has posted her family genealogy online.
Note: The cemetery index for this cemetery states that an "infant son and infant daughter Burner [Berner]" are also buried here.
Note: Contributor Katie McClain sent the following info:
E. S. Sutton's book SUTTON'S SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA AND
REPUBLICAN RIVER TRIBUTARIES, on page 336 and 337 is an interesting account of the 1893 Prairie Fire - Known as the Buerner Fire. This article states that "Mrs. Buerner and small son Owen were buried in the Parks Presbyterian (county) Cemetery. Mr. McAllister fashioned a head marker
of poured cement and inscribed her name on it with his finger."
Comment: Doubt that the infant this article refers to was her son Owen as he would have been 19 yrs old at the time of the fire. But she definitely had infants at the time of the fire although their father is unknown.
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1834 - 1893 (59 years)
